Dying Teen Leaves Message of Hope on YouTube

A lifelong battle with a rare heart disease didn’t stop 18-year-old Austin, Texas native Ben Breedlove from reaching out to other teens, even during his last days on Earth.

Ben Breedlove has captivated the world with a two-part YouTube video titled “This is my story,” a gift given to his family, friends and online fans just days before his death this past Christmas.

The video has already reached one million views, and the story of Ben Breedlove shows no signs of slowing down.

“I’m very proud of him for choosing to be so vulnerable and share something of himself that was so personal,” Ben’s mother Deanne told CBS News.

Breedlove suffered from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition that causes the heart muscle to thicken, making it difficult for the body to pump blood.

“He was about 13 months old. We were referred to a cardiologist and they did some tests and found out he has a condition called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy,” Deanne revealed.

Doctors predicted that Ben would not make it past his early teens, and though he battled high blood pressure and horrific chest pains his entire life, Ben was able to enroll as a freshman at nearby Westlake High School a few years ago.

He began posting advice videos on Youtube in 2009, quickly garnering a large online following.

In 2010, Ben created the “OurAdvice4You” channel, a space where he dished out relationship advice. The channel, which is compiled of 38 videos featuring Breedlove, has an astonishing 60,000 followers.

In “This is my story,” Ben tells the story of how he “cheated death” three separate times, including an instance earlier this year when he had to be revived by paramedics at school.

He described the near-death experience in one of the videos. He said he was standing in a white room, wearing a really nice suit with his favorite rapper, Kid Cudi.

Ben passed away a few months later on Christmas day while out in the yard with his younger brother Jake.

“We woke up really early at eight o’clock, and opened presents, and played a game of Monopoly that Ben won,” his sister Ally told NBC. “And when he laid down outside he was using his new video camera out there with Jake, and it was a really good Christmas. And we realized that Ben got the best Christmas gift out of all of us. He got the gift that everyone is gonna get some day.”

The Breedloves did not see Ben’s final Youtube message until the following day.

“I just think Ben opened a door for a lot of people to think about something that maybe they’ve never thought about before, and that to me is a wonderful gift,” Deanne added to NBC.

Hundreds have posted response videos to “This is my story,” proof that the amazing teen’s message of hope has been heeded.

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